Man Slain in Shoot-Out Is Identified as Texas Drifter : Wounded Officer Remains Critical

A Texas man who was fatally shot after he allegedly fired on law officers was described by his brother Wednesday as a former construction worker who had wandered from Texas to Louisiana and finally to rural Santiago Canyon in search of work.

The man, identified by his brother and his landlord as Sion Campbell Hawthorn, 63, fired a sawed-off shotgun at two plainclothes Los Alamitos police officers, two Orange County sheriff’s deputies and two equipment-rental company workers who had come to pick up a stolen dump truck and backhoe Tuesday night, according to police.

Los Alamitos Police Officer Reed Gloshen was struck by a shotgun blast in the right shoulder and remained in critical condition Wednesday at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Gloshen, of Cypress, is an 8-year veteran of the department.

Hawthorn was airlifted from the scene by a Marine Corps helicopter and pronounced dead at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Shoot-Out in Foothills

The shoot-out occurred near a trailer in a muddy hollow off Santiago Canyon Road in Orange County’s eastern foothills where Hawthorn had lived since August.

Acting on a tip that the stolen equipment could be found there, the Los Alamitos officers called for a backup and converged on the trailer at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Los Alamitos Police Sgt. Duane Swearingen.

Jeff Finucan, one of two drivers for Monte Collins Backhoe and Equipment, the Los Alamitos rental company from which the equipment had been stolen, was sent to join officers and collect the stolen property. He said there was no hint of danger until he heard a gunshot and saw Gloshen fall.

“I didn’t see a soul shooting at us; it was too dark,” he said. “I heard shots--there were several. My partner hit the ground because he was closer to the action. I was in the dump truck, about to drive it away. I got out and hit the ground, too.”

Yellow tape cordoned off the area Wednesday as police searched Hawthorn’s mobile home and trailer. In addition to the heavy equipment, six late-model cars, including a Chevrolet Blazer, a Ford Mustang convertible and a partially painted auto still on jacks, were scattered over the property. Authorities said they were attempting to determine whether the vehicles are stolen.

Police Won’t Identify Him

Police have declined to identify the slain suspect, saying they have been unable to notify his daughter in Orange County of his death. But Hawthorn’s landlord and brother identified Hawthorn as the man killed in the shoot-out.

As is usual in Orange County, the district attorney’s office is investigating the incident because a law enforcement officer was involved in the shooting. So far, investigators have not determined which officer or officers shot the suspect, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas M. Goethals said.

The brother, Edward Hawthorn, interviewed by telephone from his home in Vidor, Tex., said he last spoke to his brother in June at a family reunion in nearby Beaumont. He said Hawthorn had been married twice and was separated or divorced from his second wife, Sarah.

Hawthorn suffered from heart problems and other physical ailments and may have come to Orange County with an adult son and daughter, he said.

“He had been drifting more or less the last 2 to 3 years,” Edward Hawthorn said. “He’s been in trouble with bills and what-not, and he’s been in a few brawls. But he’s a fine guy who worked hard. I’ve never known him to be violent.”

Hawthorn once owned a small trucking business and later took construction jobs. He lived in Texas off and on in recent years, leaving each time because “there wasn’t no work here,” his brother said.

Rented Land to Victim

Fred Mielke, who rented the ranch land to Hawthorn for $300 a month, said Hawthorn told him that he had done some oil pipeline work in Texas. When a dump truck and a backhoe on a trailer turned up on the property last week, Mielke said he assumed Hawthorn was starting an earthmoving business. Cars had appeared gradually over the last 2 months, but Mielke said he assumed that they belonged to Hawthorn’s daughter, Toni, to her friends, or to Hawthorn’s son, whose name he did not know.

“He was friendly, just a good old boy” whom Mielke called “S.C.”

“He liked to talk--about nothing, basically. He seemed lonely. He said he was happy to be out here because this is as close to Texas as you can get in California.”

Mielke said he was sitting in his rear yard about 100 yards southwest of Hawthorn’s trailer when he saw some men carrying flashlights walking “toward the dump truck, and I just figured somebody was out to buy it.” He estimated that nine shots were fired, and he said he took cover behind a water tank in his yard.

When he peered from behind the tank, Mielke said, he “saw police running down the hill. I ran down too, and saw S.C. lying on the ground.” Mielke said he did not know whether Hawthorn owned a gun, “but around here, everybody has guns. There’s so few people around, you have to.”

Driven Through a Fence

The stolen dump truck, used to pull the backhoe on a trailer, was driven through a fence at the equipment-rental company late on the night of Nov. 9 or early the next morning, according to Swearingen of the Los Alamitos police. The stolen equipment is valued at about $100,000, company officials said.

A suspect who apparently had broken into another truck at the company that same night, only to pass out in the front seat, was arrested at the rental yard. The suspect, Eric John Mack, 19, of Stanton, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft auto and booked at Orange County Jail, Swearingen said.

Investigators Wednesday were attempting to determine whether Mack has any connection to Hawthorn.